Hi Sandra,
It’s really interesting to hear such familiar problems and it sounds like a difficult project. Organisations are understandably reluctant to share their failures, so I often think maybe my institution is the only one that has these issues! It’s a shame as I find failures are often far more valuable (although painful!) learning experiences than successes.
Your risk log issues all seem to tie back to the lack of a project manager, without which there’s no one to be aware of the early warning signs or respond to them if necessary. I think without a project manager, there’s also no sense of responsibility or ‘owning’ a project, which means it doesn’t get pushed forward as it should be. From what you’ve said, it was an international project, which must have made the lack of strong leadership and clear communication even more difficult.
Not having the right staff/skills involved in a project is something I encounter frequently in my projects. Recruitment of additional people isn’t normally an option, so we plan in training but then making time for that alongside other work isn’t always easy. I often opt for just-in-time learning but I do find it stressful sometimes. Did you attend/watch Wednesday’s webinar? There were some interesting points made there about the pressures of managing projects alongside everyday jobs but sadly we don’t have the resource to have dedicated project managers. Perhaps that would solve a lot of our issues though.
Jo
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